New propellers and nuts made of aluminum

[Eddie]

 

[strandweiss62]

Good work, but not the best idea.

The Amphicar prototypes had metal propellers. But then they changed to polyamide for two reasons. First, the light weight, which does not have to be balanced. Secondly, if they block of garbage in the water, the plastic propellers will break and save the transmission.

Aluminum nuts are ok, in Germany they are used for some years.

 

[Eddie]

To each his own I guess.
I would rather not have a plastic prop that is known to fall apart for no reason.
The keyway will break before Trans damage
The aluminum props are lightweight and balanced.

 

[Mark Richardson]

Eddie,

Looks like quality work to me. How about a picture of them on a car or maybe results of testing and use going forward? Also curious about the development and machining process used in the creation of these props. The choice of aluminum being lightweight and durable also seems well conceived. Nice job!

 

[Eddie]

Took it out today fo about two hours.
They work great

 

[okey0]

looks great.....would using a lower strength keystock--like plastic--help avoid transmission damage if the props came to a sudden stop?

 

[canitfloat]

The Disney fleet of Amphis are now all running alum props that look more like something you would see on a Mercruiser Alfa 1. I spoke with the mechanic and he says they got sick of breaking the new repro plastic prop so they retro fitted these on.. He also told me to check my rear hub nuts for tightness as they recently had a rear wheel come off in the water. Seems it had a loose nut which eventually broke the cotter pin and the nut continued to loosen until the wheel came off! I wonder if they refunded the passengers $120.00 ride fee ?

 

[Eddie]

These are the props on cars at the boat house. They look like they are off a outboard. And don't run true and vibrate a lot more according to the drivers I spoke to.
I didn't like that so the ones I made are replicas of the factory ones. Mine are aluminum and balanced. You can run a aluminum key or plastic if you're worried about hitting some thing.

 

[jfriese]

Hi Eddie,

Will you be selling your props and hubs?

John Friese
67 White
67 Red

 

[Eddie]

Hi Eddie,

Will you be selling your props and hubs?

John Friese
67 White
67 Red

If there is enough interest, yes.
But, to do a casting there is a minimum order. So we will see

 

[strandweiss62]

I would rather not have a plastic prop that is known to fall apart for no reason.

You are right, that seems to be a problem with the reprops. I can not understand this, the main costs are making the mold and not the material. Why did GI not use the proper material.

How did you made yours? Sand casting, milled, 3D print?

 

[Eddie]

Lost wax casting

 

[jfriese]

Eddie,

Even though my original props and the repo's I use haven't given me many problems, I'm still rather interested in all the fancy upgrades you come up with. I hope you get enough interest to do a batch run and hopefully the price will be reasonable.

Nice Work,

John Friese
67 White
67 Red

 

[Eddie]

Eddie,

Even though my original props and the repo's I use haven't given me many problems, I'm still rather interested in all the fancy upgrades you come up with. I hope you get enough interest to do a batch run and hopefully the price will be reasonable.

Nice Work,

John Friese
67 White
67 Red

If I run a batch of 25 sets (that's the minimum)
the price would be 620.00 per set. That's 2 props and 2 nuts.
Concidering Gordon's sells the plastic ones for 249.95 per prop and 49.90 per nut I don't think that's too bad.......

 

[strandweiss62]

I will take a set, just to start the race.

Peter

 

[Eddie]

I'll need a set for my other car.

So that makes 2

 

[Cameron in UK]

Eddie, Dad says you should talk to the Disney guys, he was there last year and apparently they don't use the Gordon repro props due to breakages but they are also not completely happy with the Aluminium props they do use, they don't work as well as the originals, they are a little smaller, so the cars run at higher revs. Disney guys would likely order quite a few if your Aluminium ones work well on their cars but also that would endorse the product with the wider Amphicar community who would then get their cheque books out !
As Dad says we have had so many problems with poor quality repro parts in recent years that people are cautious.
The issue is not unique to Amphicar of course, the rotor arm problem affected a lot of cars with a Lucas distributor and although most people have switched to the red arms that work like the originals the Chinese ones that randomly stop working (because the insulation material doesn't insulate) are still around and still being sold by people who should know better.

 

[Eddie]

I have spoke with Disney Dave and Steve.
And I will just leave it at that.

These are not cheap Chinese knock offs.
They are exact replicas of the originals
Just cast in aluminum instead of plastic.

 

[Jon March]

youre a master. - I just came here to ask is anyone has a used prop i can buy as a spare.
I can see how the price of those might be coming down!

 

[Mark Richardson]

Jon,

Years ago knowing I needed a spare, I bought a used prop from Gordon's. Not looking to sell it, but check with them to see if they have any "take offs" laying around.